The present invention relates to mounts and fasteners. More specifically, the present invention relates to lightweight clip nut fasteners which are particularly useful within the aircraft and automotive industries.
Many types of mounting devices have been developed for holding one or more objects to a support surface. For example, clip nuts are constructed to slide over the edge of a panel to position and maintain a nut for receiving a bolt or other threaded device. Clip nuts are known and used to mount items to the panel and for attaching two or more panels together. Common applications for clip nuts include use in automobiles, appliances and aircraft. For example, a single commercial aircraft may utilize hundreds of thousands of clip nuts.
Commonly used clip nuts are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,474,917 and 6,918,725, both naming Gauron as the inventor. Each of these patents describe a clip nut having a clip body having first and second arms connected by an end wall. This U-shaped structure is constructed for receiving a panel between the first and second arms. Each arm includes a coaxially aligned hole for aligning with a hole within the panel. The clip nut includes a housing for holding the nut and maintaining the nut's central threaded bore coaxially aligned with the holes formed in the clip nut's upper and lower arms. To insert the nut into the housing, these patents describe a structure wherein the housing's sidewalls must be displaced to allow tabs on the nut to project through openings in the housing sidewalls. U.S. Pat. No. 6,854,941 describes a similar clip nut. However, to insert the nut into the clip nut housing, the housing includes a narrowed inlet through which the nut's tubular barrel is pushed through.
Although current clip nut constructions are generally effective, they do suffer from various drawbacks. Durability, load and torque capability are very important and certain clip nuts are insufficiently structured to undergo high loads and torque. Moreover, it would be desirable to provide a clip nut wherein the nut can be more readily inserted into a clip housing. In addition, clip nuts are commonly used in high volumes and any improvements in use or cost savings would be extremely advantageous.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved clip nut that provides high load and torque capabilities.
It would also be desirable to provide a clip nut that was cost effective to manufacture and employ.
Furthermore, it would be advantageous to provide an improved clip nut wherein the nut could more easily be inserted into a clip nut housing.